Attorney General's Opinion 1981-82 #437

VIRGINIA FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT. MEETINGS OF CURRICULUM STUDY COMMITTEE APPOINTED BY LOCAL SCHOOL BOARD ARE MEETINGS SUBJECT TO ACT.

January 28, 1982

The Honorable M. Frederick King
Commonwealth's Attorney for the City of Salem

81-82 437

You ask whether meetings of a curriculum study committee appointed by a local school board are subject to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (the "Act"). Section 2.1-343 of the Code of Virginia (1950), as amended, requires that all meetings shall be public meetings except as otherwise provided by law and except as provided in §§2.1-344 and 2.1-345.

Section 2.1-341 (a) provides that "meetings," as used in the Act, means the meetings, when sitting as a body or entity, of the constituent membership of any agency of any political subdivision of the Commonwealth, including school boards, and other organizations or agencies in the Commonwealth, supported wholly or principally by public funds.

I am advised that the committee in question consists of 11 members, as follows: 1 school board member, 6 teachers, and 4 persons from the community. The committee was appointed by formal resolution of the school board. The committee has been directed to study various questions associated with a school system reorganization, and to report back to the school board with recommendations.

The school board is expressly designated, under §2.1-341 (a), as an agency subject to the Act. This Office has previously held that committees established by the bodies subject to the Act must comply with the Act. See Reports of the Attorney General (1974-1975) at 584; (1977-1978) at 482. There was once an exemption for study committees, which has been repealed. See Report of the Attorney General (1973-1974) at 459.

Accordingly, it is my opinion that the curriculum study committee is subject to the Act.